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Record number of women elected to the House

CNN

11:57 AM, Nov 8, 2018

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A record number of women are projected to win seats in the House in a massive night for female candidates across the political spectrum.

As of Thursday morning, CNN projected at least 100 women would win House races, with 35 women newly elected to the House and 65 female incumbents. That bests the previous record of 85 representatives, according to the Congressional Research Service. There are still two outstanding races that have two women competing against each other, which means that at least 102 women will be serving in the House next year.

On the Senate side, CNN projected by Thursday morning that 12 women would win Senate seats, with two newly elected women joining 10 female incumbents.

CNN projected as of Thursday morning that nine women -- four incumbents and five newly elected -- would win gubernatorial races.

The numbers in each category tilted largely to Democrats, with 87 of the projected female House winners coming from the Democratic Party and 13 from the Republican side.

A tally from the Congressional Research Service said the previous record of 85 representatives served in the 114th Congress, including two members who resigned and one who was elected to fill a vacancy. A previous tally from Rutgers' Center for American Woman and Politics had the current record total of women in the House at 84 and the overall total including the Senate at 107.

The 100 House members projected as of Thursday morning would clear either total for that chamber, while the Senate side had mixed results by gender. A projected win for Tennessee Republican Senator-elect Marsha Blackburn came the same night as the projected loss for North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Additionally, Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill was projected to lose her re-election bid, and Nevada Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen was projected to unseat Republican Sen. Dean Heller.

Arizona is poised to elect its first female senator no matter what party wins, which will add to the Senate tally above.

The historic totals capped off a campaign season in the wake of President Donald Trump's election that was defined in large part by female activism.

A CNN analysis at the outset of the general election noted 256 women won House and Senate primaries -- a record level that paved the way for Tuesday's victories.

As with the initial projected totals, those primary wins by females tilted largely towards Democrats. Fifty-nine of the candidates were Republican, and 197 were Democrats.

The midterm elections saw women securing historic firsts around the country, from the first Native American women to join the House of Representatives to Tennessee electing a woman to the Senate for the first time. And in several cases, the result was preordained one way or another because both major party candidates in a given race were women, as in the Arizona Senate contest.